I admire a fan who insists on watching every game live, but not because he is morally superior to those of us who occasionally record a game and watch it later. No, I admire him because he doesn’t live with the anxiety of having someone spoil the end of the game.
For example, last week's big game against the San Antonio Spurs started when I was 25,000 feet over Amarillo, Texas. That's fine because nobody can use the Internet or the cell phones when you're on a plane. The problems start when you're plane lands. Usually the other people on the plane are too uncomfortable standing next to you waiting for their turn to leave to actually make conversation. No spoilers there.
The next stage was more difficult. I had to walk through Terminal 4 with Ninja-like discipline. I couldn't look left or right for nearly a quarter of a mile because there are TV screens everywhere. Just to be safe, I put on my Mean Face just in case I ran into a friend and they unwittingly blurted out the score of the game. If you think this is a little extreme, you don't understand that my friends would do something like this, and you also forget that this was the Suns/Spurs game--the first with big Shaq. This is playoff basketball two months early.
While I waited for my wife to pick me up, I opted to leave the massive crowds inside the airport and stand among a handful of smokers outside, because statistically, there was less chance that I’d overhear someone yapping about the game in progress. I smelled like smoke for the rest of the day, but at least I got to enjoy the game from beginning to it's glorious end. (Even if it was technically three hours after the final shot of the game.)
I've spoken to my friends about this anxiety, and they know what it's like. My friend Justin had problems--coincidentally--over last year's final regular season game against the Spurs. His girlfriend's parents were in town for the weekend, which would have been fine, maybe even fun. Welcome to Phoenix...now lets watch the Suns! Unfortunately, these folks didn't care much for basketball.
He knew this fact a week in advance and decided that watching the game together was a bad idea. Something that could end the whole relationship. So he crafted an brilliant plan. He set the DVR to record the game, and then he took the family to the only event that he could find that would be absolutely insulated from the game: The Renaissance Festival. Genius! Shear genius! Give the man a trophy!
Think about it: it's so hard to avoid hearing about the outcome of a big game. I almost punched a bag boy at Basha's last year because he asked me if I bought all this party food to celebrate the "big win." I looked at him sideways for five seconds and then slowly explained to him we hadn't seen the game yet. He felt so bad he jumped to the next register to start bagging groceries for a lady who bought a pack of gum.
Really, where do you go? Even if you took them on a hike up Camelback Mountain, there would be a group of girls from ASU laying out in the sun listening to the game on the radio...debating on who is cuter, Raja or Leandro. There's no safe place. Three years ago, the priest at my parish ruined the outcome of a game during his sermon. How messed up is that? Isn't that a sin?
Comments
Candice - Phoenix
My sister and I occasionally have to tape a game while we are at our bi-weely nail appointments. We hate not being able to watch these games live, so we tape the game while away from home, avoid the radio and then watch the game as though it is live later that night. We fast forward through the pre-game show and commercials. If we knew the outcome before we had a chance to watch we wouldn't bother watching if the Suns lost. It's too depressing to watch a game if you know it will end badly. We even tape the games we attend and watch them but only if the Suns have won.
Tory - La Grande OR
Oh the curses that come with the blessing of Tivo. I hate it when you're watching a Tivo'd game, and a friend calls, but before they get beyond,"What's up?" you blurt out, "I'm at the end of the third. Don't say a word." They know you do your Tivo thing when you have to, and don't say anything, but you can always tell how the game went by the way the say, "Alright, well call me after the game." The tone of voice always gives it away. I had start screening my calls.
Jason - Akron OH
yea i know the feeling. i have to DVR the games cause i cant watch them live cause i work from 4 pm to 1 am so the games just about over by the time i getting off work. unless they are playing on the east coast. but i dont listen to the radio on the way home. i dont go on the internet while at work. i do everything to avoid knowing the outcome. even when im home and the game is coming on i cant watch it. i still dvr and watch it later. its like of like my own thing. everytime i seem to do it we win. so i keep it up. everytime i watch the game live we lost. the only time i watched the game live and we won was when i went to the game in cleveland. which was a thriller.
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